


If Promises Were Stars, You'd be Here Beside Me

by KeithsGuidingLight



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Alpha Shiro (Voltron), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Angst, Fluff, M/M, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, Omega Keith (Voltron), Pre-Kerberos Mission
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 16:18:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14084784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeithsGuidingLight/pseuds/KeithsGuidingLight
Summary: From the moment Keith applied to the Garrison he knew he was destined to fly, and no Alpha was going to get in his way.He didn't expect to fall, quite literally, for Shiro; an Alpha and Senior Cadet who seems more in love with Keith's flying ability than he is in Keith.Now Keith has to deal with being the next prodigy pilot, navigating the perilous world of being fresh meat at the Garrison and falling for an Alpha that almost certainly had the pick of any Omega he wanted.Obviously there's no way he'd ever pick Keith.





	If Promises Were Stars, You'd be Here Beside Me

Keith met Shiro three weeks after moving into his dormitory at the Garrison. Well, ‘met’ is probably the wrong word. Shiro caught Keith three weeks after moving into his dorm because Keith decided it would be a good idea to get some books out of the library for some preterm studying, and he _didn’t see the stairs_.

“Easy there cadet, the Library issues bags for this very reason.” The man said, looking down at Keith so that the light behind him created a soft halo around his head. His grey eyes creased softly as a smile graced his lips. Oh no; soft but strong alphas made Keith weak in the knees… well weaker in the knees.

Fuck, Keith was so done.

He blinked rapidly, trying to regain his bearings as butterflies fluttered in his stomach. What was he doing again? Oh yeah, books.

“The books!” Keith exclaimed, jerking up trying to regain his balance and gather up the books he had clumsily dropped, but it only lead to him slipping and falling further into the alpha’s embrace.

The man laughed, “slow down, the books will be fine, I’m more concerned about you right now.”

And by goodness did Keith blush at that. The man helped him to his feet, down the stairs and Keith could feel the warmth in his arm spreading from where the alpha was touching him, like a hot pocket in winter: but better. It was a comforting, safe, warmth that Keith was loathed to let go of at the bottom of the stairs.

The man, Keith saw now that his brain had time to look, was wearing a senior cadet uniform and Keith felt his body breath a sigh of relief. At least he wasn’t stupidly attracted to an officer.

The alpha finally released his arm and Keith shivered as it was plunged back into the autumn cold. Keith continued to stare at the man somewhat absentmindedly as he collected the books Keith has dropped. He was tall; probably a head taller than Keith himself, and _built_. He definitely works out for more than the training Keith inflicts upon himself, and he has a stupid smile that could outshine the sun.

“You’re lucky, no harm done.” The man smiles again and Keith finds himself glaring, nobody deserves to be that handsome, did he save a whole fucking planet in another life or something? Geese. Blinking rapidly Keith tries to smile back but from the shift in the alpha’s expression it’s coming across more like a grimace.

“Urr, thank you… sir?” Shit, what was the proper decorum for talking to a senior cadet again? Thankfully, the alpha laughed,

“There’s no need to call me sir. Make sure you take care of yourself cadet, I don’t want to hear that you got yourself killed in a tragic book avalanche okay?”

Keith nodded back, dumbstruck, as the man _waltzed_ down the corridor to the senior cadet mess hall. It was only then that he noticed he was breathing hard and his heart was beating at a mile a minute. Now Keith was never one to believe in love at first sight, but he sure as hell believes in love at first stumble.

Fuck.

Keith didn’t even get his name.

-

Keith finds out the man’s name almost three weeks later when he’s introduced in their first practical class; _An Introduction to Flight Simulations_. Or in other words, the class Keith has been excited for since he applied to the Garrison.

There was nothing more Keith wanted in life than to fly. Space, jets, fucking cargo ships; he’d take anything for feeling the rush of adrenalin and freedom flying brought him. His hover bike could only do so much.

“Cadets, this is Senior Cadet Alpha Takashi Shirogane,” Beta Commander Iverson says, motioning to the man beside him and Alpha Shirogane raised his hand in a small wave. Keith felt his cheeks heat up at the ma- at Alpha Shirogane’s small smile. Yep, he’s just as hot from across the room as he is up close. “He’s here to take you through the simulator and then he’ll run a short simulation for you to see it put in practice,” Iverson continues. “I suggest you pay very close attention as you will be running the same simulation later in the class, and it will be graded.”

Iverson motioned for Alpha Shirogane to take his place in front of the class and address the new class of cadets,

“Now the first thing you need to know about a flight simulator is that it always looks more intimidating than it is. There are three main roles to any simulation, and any Garrison mission; Pilots, that’s you guys, Communications officers and Engineers. You’re team is like your family. Once you’re in space there is no one else you can rely on when you get into a twist so you’ll need to trust your team implicitly. The only reason your not practicing working as a team right now is that we want to give you the opportunity to get the hang of your individual roles. Starting from second term though, every simulation you’ll complete will be in a team of three.

“Right, now that I’ve got that over with, let’s start on the simulator.” Keith paid attention to Alpha Shirogane like a hawk, lest he missed anything that would help him in a simulator later. Alpha Shirogane went through the simulation screen and how it was different to actual crafts, the control panel, the emergency indicators and what they meant and what a pilot was expected to do in emergency situations. Keith could tell there was more he wanted to say, like it was itching at his skin, but a couple of well timed coughs from Iverson had him staying on track. Only the basics for now it would seem.

“Now that I’ve gone through the most important parts of the simulator I’ll run through the simulation you’ll be attempting this afternoon, so if you could all make you’re way up to the observation deck we’ll bet this show on the road.” Alpha Shirogane finished, motioning to the stairs.

Keith filed out with the fifteen or so other pilots, eager to see what the simulation was like. He was surprised to fine out it was much like riding a hover bike. Small movements make large difference; being relaxed gives you the most control; always pay attention to what’s in front of you. Things he’d been doing for as long as he could remember out on the plains of Texas with his dad.

But somehow that just made him more nervous for his attempt at the simulator.

Alpha Shirogane’s run lasted mere minutes, and it looked simple enough. Lift off, three figures of eights around a designated course and land. Keith should be able to do it.

There were five designated first year ‘starter’ simulators, not much more than pods, just replicas of the pilot’s area of the larger crafts. Commander Iverson split them up into groups of three and sent them each to a pod with a Senior Cadet waiting to take them for the rest of the session.

Keith’s heart jumped when he saw Alpha Shirogane standing by his pod. This was just his luck.

“Hey, so I will be your Senior Cadet for this session, and I thought, before we’d start, I’d let you introduce yourselves. If your first year is anything like mine you’ve probably not had enough time to eat or sleep let alone socialise and knowing the other cadets in your class is great come exam time. Take it from me.

“How about you tell me your name, where you’re from and your favourite moment from the Garrison so far and then we’ll get on with the simulator.”

The three of them shared a look of confusion between each other. Keith had been put in a group with a beta that he’s pretty sure sits behind him in Navigation and another beta who he’s not sure he’s ever seen before… so yeah awkward ice breakers may actually be a good thing.

Alpha Shirogane obviously felt their awkwardness because he continued, smiling, “So how about I start, My name is Alpha Takashi Shirogane, you as my Junior Cadets you may call me Shiro. I was born in Japan but grew up in New York, and my favourite moment in the Garrison so far was riding in the Zero G Simulator.”

Navigation beta finds her voice first and, blushing, stumbles out that she’s Beta Yarna Compton from Canada and her favourite moment so far has been meeting her idol Alpha Professor Montgomery, the person to ever step foot on Mars. The other beta introduces themselves as Beta Deidra Brookes from Wisconsin. They loved the tour of the Garrison’s Space Exploration Laboratories. Then the three of them turned towards Keith, who admittedly had hoped they would forget he existed.

“Uhh, I’m Omega Keith Kogane, I grew up in Texas… and haven’t had a favourite moment.”

“Really, nothing’s stood out to you, at all?” Alpha Shiro says in disbelief.

“Uh, not really. I mean I’ve been waiting to try the simulator since I got here… so I guess my favourite moment so far is… this?” He added, hoping Alpha Shiro would let it go and they could get on with actually attempting the simulation.

“Well let’s not keep you waiting longer than necessary then.” Alpha Shiro laughed, “Unfortunately for record purposes you have to go in alphabetical order by surname so Deidra you’re up first. Let me just go get it set up for you,” he continued, disappearing into the pod with Deidra. He emerged moments later typing something into he keypad by the door then making sure they were sealed shut.

“We want the simulators to be as immersive as possible, the pods are soundproof so I’ll be shutting you both in there too. Don’t worry though, there’s an emergency override on the inside just in case. Now as I told Deidra, the simulation runs until you complete it successfully or crash; and I must stress, there is no shame in crashing on your first, or even tenth run through. Heck I crashed a simulation last week. The Garrison is all about learning how to be the best pilot you can be, then throwing any possible situation at you to give you the best chance of survival. Okay?”

They both nodded. Alpha Shiro smiled and asked if they had any questions whilst they were waiting, Yarna mentioned something about how they choose the pilot, communications officer, engineer teams.

“Basically your first term teachers sit down together with a load of files and try to match up cadets they think will work well toget-”

Before Alpha Shiro could finish the answer the pod doors hissed open, a breathing hard Deidra stood between them looking quite disappointed.

“I crashed,” they said, looking down at their feet, shrugging.

Alpha Shiro genuinely smiled reassuringly, checking her score on his ComPad. “Deidra, you did great! As I said, there’s no shame in crashing.” Once she had exited the simulator he jogged in, resetting it, “Yarna, you’re up next.”

Yarna managed a little longer than Deidra, but she also crashed, looking more annoyed than disappointed in herself as she climbed down the steps,

“I took the last turn too fast, trying to shave some time off the run, lost control of the craft and crashed into communications tower.”

Alpha Shiro looked at her sympathetically, “Well at least you’ve learnt one of the most important things we teach pilots. The safe route is always the best route. There’s no point trying to do something faster if you can’t do it safely; the only time you should be taking any risks is if you have no other option.”

“Alright Keith, you’re up. Have fun!” Alpha Shiro smiled at him as he reset the simulator again.

Keith took a deep breath, he could do this, and if he could just focus like he does on his bike he’ll be fine. _‘Remember, Keith, small movements make large difference; being relaxed gives you the most control; always pay attention to what’s in front of you.’_

Keith got himself comfortably sat in the pilot’s seat, fastening himself in and wriggling to get himself set. Making sure he could properly use all the needed buttons, switches and sticks he closed his eyes and focused on the task at hand.

Keith started the simulation when he opened his eyes, letting it immerse himself completely in the surround sound and realistic shadows in the pod.

“Control to Pilot 184, you are clear for lift off, repeat you are clear for lift off, over.” A semi-auto toned voice spoke over the comm system.

“Pilot 184 to Control, message received, will commence lift off immediately over.” Keith replied, he was suddenly glad he’d studied the messaging system the Garrison used in bed the night previous.

Looking ahead to the runway, Keith started the jet’s engines. He smoothed himself into the speed needed for lift-off, making sure to stay as central to the runway as possible. Keith’s heart raced as the pod simulated the sudden extra G forces being exerted on him, it was as addicting as he thought it would be and Keith broke into a smile. This is what he was born to do.

Reaching the proper speed Keith eased the yoke towards him, he could feel the pod leave the ground and he made sure to reach the correct altitude before retracting the landing gear. He could hardly believe he was in a simulation and not actually in the air.

It all felt so real.

A red ring illuminated above him and he set a course to start the figure of eights in the simulation. The pod handled like a charm, even better than the pod he’d been flying for almost a decade. There were no kinks he had to sus out just point and fly, brake subtly into the turns, turn, and fly. Repeat. Keith felt the disappointment hit him when the simulation told him to change course and approach for landing.

“Pilot 184 to Control, objective complete, request permission to land, over.”

“Control to Pilot 184, permission granted, over.”

Now came for the tricky bit… or at least the trickiest bit for Keith; landing. It’s not that he doesn’t know how to land, he does, it’s just that you don’t have to land a hover bike so much as just stop. There are just so many more variables with non-vertical landing craft and Keith’s never attempted it before.

 _‘There is no shame in crashing on your first, or even tenth run through’_ Keith remembered what Alpha Shiro had told them. There was no shame in crashing,

 _‘Especially if it’s on the landing,’_ Keith supposed.

Keith approached the runway slowing all the while, once he’d descended to the correct altitude he activated the landing gear and put the breaks on further.

“Keep it steady, a bit slower, keep it straight,” he said to no one in particular. Keith’s heart was going at a mile a minute, he was coming in too fast, but not fast enough to pull up and try again. It was going to be a bumpy landing. He felt the craft touch down with a jolt and Keith maxed out the breaks, coming to a stop meters before the end of the runway.

“Holy shit!” Keith exclaimed; relief filled him, causing butterflies to flutter into his stomach. He’d done it! He actually completed the simulation, in one piece, “Fuck yeah!”

Keith shakily unbuckled himself and walked slowly to the doors of the pod, trying to regain his sure footing. He pressed the ‘open door’ button with a huge smile on his face. A smile that faltered the second the doors opened when he came face to face with an angry looking Iverson.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first Voltron fic so I'm sure some of my characterisations will be off. 
> 
> If you liked this I have a tumblr over at Shirosmyguidinglight.tumblr.com


End file.
